SCOscore: School Corporation Opportunity Score
Introduction
The School Corporation Opportunity Score (SCOscore) is a measure of potentiality for learners in a school community. It is a composite score that combines multiple factors, particularly structural factors such as race and SES, as well as performance factors such as test scores and graduation pathway completion rates, to provide a more holistic view of school corporations.
Methods
The SCOscore of a school corporation is calculated through the following formula:
\[ S_{O} = \frac{\left[\left(P_{urm} \times 1.5\right) + \left(P_{frl} \times 1.5\right) + S_{ac}\right]}{3} \]
where \(S_{O}\) is the SCOscore, \(P_{urm}\) is the proportion of underrepresented minority students, \(P_{frl}\) is the proportion of students eligible for free or reduced lunch, and \(S_{ac}\) is an academic achievement score for the corporation as a whole.
The academic achievement score accounts for 3rd grade ELA proficiency, 8th grade math proficiency, and graduation pathways completion rates. In order to account for those factors, the following equation is utilized:
\[ S_{ac} = \frac{\left(S_{a_{ela}}^\prime + S_{a_{math}}^\prime + S_{a_{gpc}}^\prime\right)}{3} + 1 \] where \(S_{a_{ela}}^\prime\) is the calculated 3rd grade ELA proficiency measure, \(S_{a_{math}}^\prime\) is the calculated 6th grade math proficiency measure, and \(S_{a_{gpc}}^\prime\) is the calculated graduation pathway completion measure.
The \(S_a^\prime\) measures are determined in the following manner:
\[ f(S_a^\prime) = \begin{cases} (S_{IN} - S_a) + 1, & \text{if } S_a < S_{IN} \\ 0, &\text{otherwise} \end{cases} \]
where \(S_a\) is the school corporation average proficiency or completion rate and \(S_{IN}\) is the state-level average proficiency or completion rate.
Acknowledging Inequality Within School Corporations
It needs to be recognized that there is the potential for inequality within a single school corporation and the SCOscore is calculated based on reported averages across all schools in the corporation. The school corporation-level score should be considered within the local building context. A building or school-level score can be calculated using the same general equation:
\[ S_{O} = \frac{\left[\left(P_{urm} \times 1.5\right) + \left(P_{frl} \times 1.5\right) + S_{ac}\right]}{3} \]
Rather than calculating a combined academic score, however, the specific academic measure–3rd grade ELA proficiency rates for elementary schools, 6th grade math proficiency rates for middle schools, and graduation pathways completion rates for high schools–can be used. The \(S_a^\prime\) still needs to be calculated by comparing the measure to the Indiana statewide average as above, where it becomes \(0\) if it is above the statewide average or \((S_{IN} - S_a) + 1\) if it is below the statewide average.
It is also important to consider the status of charter schools when identifying schools to work with. Despite the “public school” designation by the Indiana Department of Education, charter schools are not technically public schools in important ways, particularly when it comes to accountability to the community in which they are embedded. Other problematic issues with respect to oppression by race and ability are well-documented.
Data Sources
Data for these calculations are drawn from the following sources:
- Indiana Department of Education’s Indiana Graduates Prepared to Succeed (GPS)
- Urban Institute’s Education Data Explorer via the educationdata R package
School Corporation Opportunity Scores (SCOscores)
The following map provides a big-picture overview of where the highest opportunity exists across the state.
The following plot provides the relative opportunity by NCES urban-centric locale categories:
Central Indiana
The school corporations with SCOscores greater than 1 in Central Indiana are as follows:
| School Corporation | Enrollment | SCOscore |
|---|---|---|
| Indianapolis Public Schools | 22,115 | 1.42 |
| MSD Warren Twp | 11,801 | 1.42 |
| MSD Wayne Twp | 16,343 | 1.39 |
| MSD Pike Twp | 10,928 | 1.37 |
| Anderson Community Schools | 6470 | 1.30 |
| MSD Lawrence Twp | 16,247 | 1.29 |
| MSD Washington Twp | 10,901 | 1.13 |
| Perry Twp Schools | 16,603 | 1.11 |
| Beech Grove City Schools | 2837 | 1.10 |
Indiana SCOscoreData Explorer
All elements from here are interactive and may be used to explore the SCOscore data set.
Reuse
Citation
@misc{price2023,
author = {Price, Jeremy and Arora, Akaash and Bulanov, Maxim and
Knoors, AJ},
title = {SCOscore: {School} {Corporation} {Opportunity} {Score}},
date = {2023},
url = {https://github.com/jeremyfprice/school-corporation-opportunity-score},
langid = {en}
}